“Am I supposed to be concerned? I’m not looking to join any team, Prancer. I’m not looking to buy or sell petty drugs or prostitutes. When I decide to act, I’ll be leading a team, not joining one, and people will flock to me regardless of what you say. They’ll do business with me because there’s no other choice. I’m ready to call that bluff of yours.”

“And be the first I make an example of? No. I’m something of a schemer, a bit of a politician, and I’m a very good businessman. But if you’re going to deal with me, you should know that above any and all of that, I’m a salesman. If we’re talking about bluffs, I know bluffs when I see them, Damsel of Distress. I know you came here because you want something.”

“I did. I finished some shopping and I have your measure, and I have the measure of your neighborhood.”

“Something drew you away from your cozy apartment in an unassuming neighborhood, away from your regular appointments with therapists and the Wardens. Your years of history before Gold Morning are a pattern of laying low, being quiet, committing crimes to get food and clothes, and then getting restless and bored. That’s when you traditionally start stirring up trouble. Are you restless?”

“You read my files. If you’re expecting that level of access to intimidate me, you’ll be disappointed.”

“I think you’re bored. I know you’ve been hanging around the Cabin, or the Lodge if you want to call it that. I know you like spending time at the tea shop. I know that when you get restless you often look for people to spend time with. The Jewel of Boston, the Slaughterhouse Nine. We know how those stories ended.”

“I’m alive and many of them are dead.”

“That’s not how I would have put it, but alright,” Prancer said. “If you want something here, you should ask.”

“I thought I might want to find a place around here, but if you’re slow to respond to my arrival, you might be slow to stop heroes from getting in my way.”

“You want a place in the community?”

“And security, assurance I won’t be harassed. You know about the appointments. They’re why I’m left free when other ex-members of the Slaughterhouse Nine are still under lock and key. They study me then, I let them, and I want to leave it at that, for those days and those times only. I don’t want to be surveilled or scrutinized when I don’t have to be.”

“We have a variety of security measures in place. If you chose to move here, if we allowed you to, I think you’d be satisfied.”

“Empty assurances.”